Stay the Same
by rdy2rokGURL
Summary: Obviously, some people have thought of their lives-the deeper meaning, the good points, the bad points, the happy memories, the unbearable ones, and the ones that keep us going. We all feel. And that's the only thing Dia does... Feel.


Obviously, people have thought about their lives...the deeper meaning of it...like the good points, the bad points, the happy memories, the unbearable ones and things that keep us going. Dia is one person who is always in deep thought, but he doesn't exactly show it. From when he was a small child, he wasn't the one to actually show what he feels, although that's the only thing he does...

...feel.

He is mainly quiet, reserved, and if he needs to show something, he puts on this idiotic demeanor, but he doesn't know why. Maybe this is why people wonder how he was able to become friends with Pearl, his complete, polar opposite.

Pearl is stoic, loud and definitely feels his superiority over his friend. However, they still match each other, they still are best friends because they compliment each other. They were the perfect duo.

Although Dia's feelings waver.

Their usual act would be him unconsciously doing something stupid-stupid to Pearl's eyes maybe-in the result of Pearl hitting him and making his usual witty comeback. Dia does this for the sake of comedy, and he's sure Pearl does too, but he can't push down the thought that maybe, even just a little, Pearl acts like all of it is true.

However, Dia takes no action. Maybe it's because he thinks he's overreacting, or maybe because it such a little matter that it doesn't need to be attended to, but he makes no move.

And somehow, he regrets it.

On the day of one of Dia and Pearl's comedy contest, they surprisingly win something, though it's probably because of pity since they were sure they failed. Nonetheless, they go excitedly to the place where they'll be receiving the prize.

On the way there, they meet, or rather bumped into, two professional-looking men in business suits, and one of them looked especially creepy. Dia notices Pearl drop the letter where the location they had to go to was written, but they were able to pick themselves up and move forward.

Finally, they reach their destination and are greeted by two pokemon holding some devices. They grab hold on the gadgets as the pokemon latch themselves onto their faces.

Dia fidgets and tries to remove the pokemon as gently as posible, but its grip was like a stone lock. Suddenly, he sees her. And the first word that pops into his mind is 'beautiful'.

Cute? No, cute and beautiful are different.

Her long flowing black hair that shines blue in the sunlight, her cold yet soft silver eyes, her pale, soft-looking skin, her unwavering air of authority yet grace and elegance around her...

'_Just like a princess,' _he thinks.

"Dia, what's going on?" Pearl exclaims as he pushes the pokemon away, but is unsuccessful. Dia is looking at something, but he couldn't see who since his pokemon fidgets too much that he was sure he had scratch marks all over his face.

He then feels it, a presence, but not a normal one.

An offensive presence.

Someone-or something-was about to attack.

Obviously, the pokemon feel it too since they jump off and take their stances. Pearl didn't practically care about what Dia was staring at anymore; all that he is looking at now is the flock of bird pokemon attacking them.

Pearl turns to his friend, still dazed, like he was star-struck. "Dia," he says, "get ready to run!"

"Aaaahhh~?" he replies. Pearl readies himself to facepalm.

"This isn't the time to get distracted, we have to-"

"What's going on? Get rid of them already," commands a voice. Pearl turns to it, but all he can see is the silhouette of a lady. He wasn't really good in focusing; he was more of the scan then action kind.

Even though he didn't like to be ordered around, especially by a voice that wasn't familiar, he still did as she said. The flock is too near that some are swooping down to nip at them. He and Dia awkwardly battle the flock with the two new pokemon and their own (Munchlax and Chatot) and are able to defeat them.

They slump down, tired from the battle since they aren't the type to do so. Then, the figure approaches.

Pearl admits she's a looker, with hair black as night, pale white skin with rosy cheeks and striking silver eyes. She definitely looks mature for her age, even her posture says so. However, he somehow feels annoyed at her expression, like she was too good for him and Dia.

When she sees their work, she gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

'What's wrong?' Dia and Pearl ask, obviously with different tones, Dia with concern and Pearl with annoyance.

They stay silent for a moment, until she finally breaks the ice. "I see. Tell me your code names, identification, anything I need to know," she commands.

"Hey, why do you-" Pearl starts, but Dia cuts him off.

"I'm Diamond, you can call me Dia, and that's Pearl," he says.

The girl nods as she takes out her Ponyta and mounts on it. "Very well then. Let's go," she replies as she trudges forward. Dia stands up and starts to follow, but Pearl drags him back.

"What do you think you're doing?" he whispers.

"Following our tour guide," he lies. Dia knows this isn't their tour guide, and he knows they got the wrong letter (probably lost it when they bumped into the businessmen) and he was planning to tell Pearl the moment they read it...

But he met her.

Pearl's eyes widen. "She's our tour guide?"

"Obvious, isn't it?" Dia asks.

Pearl doesn't reply, like he's thinking whether or not Dia is telling the truth. He analyzes and makes a conclusion. He starts following the girl and Dia, quite relieved, does so too.

The next few days, they continue to Mount Coronet-like the girl said she was heading-and still waver off any attack of pokemon they encounter. Pearl looks at the positive side, saying it's a good training for future battles. Dia agrees unwillingly as his mind wanders to the girl.

He thinks about why he doesn't know her name yet. However, he doesn't want to ask either. Her actions, her air of authority...he definitely doesn't want to mess with her.

He sighs and looks out his window and into the sky. The stars are shining brightly and it reminds him of the glint in the young lady's eyes. He shakes his head and wonders how he suddenly became delusional with love.

Pearl exits the bathroom with a heavy sigh. "Well, we should still practice our manzai, I guess," he says, giving his chimchar a pat on the head. That was another part Dia didn't get. He's sure the lady wasn't their tour guide, but he doesn't know what she actually does either...who would give away two pokemon and devices that store pokemon data?

Something nudges Dia's ankle and he looks down to see what it is.

It is his turtwig.

He smiles and brings it into his arms. He liked turtwig, since it resembled pretty much him and munchlax, moving slowly but surely. Also, it had a big appetite.

"What's up with that lady?" asks Pearls suddenly that Dia almost drops his pokemon.

"What do you mean?" Dia contradicts.

"I don't get why she orders us around, giving us our pokemon and gadgets...and especially...THIS HOTEL! It's one of the seven-star hotels in Sinnoh! And the people didn't even look at her weird or even ask for payment when she ordered a room. Scratch that, she didn't even have to open her mouth, but we ended up in this luxurious room!"

"I'm sure being a tour guide has a high pay," Dia says quietly as he puts down his pokemon, which struts down the hallway.

"I don't know..." Pearl mutters. He calls his chatot and orders him to spy on the girl.

"We can't do that! We might get in trouble," Dia stutters.

"Don't be stupid, Dia," Pearl says and immediately, a sad emotion drops at the pit of Dia's stomach. "Chatot won't get caught, and don't you want to know more about her?"

'Yes, but not in that sense,' he thinks. He stays silent and Pearl takes that as a yes. Chatot takes off.

"Let's practice our manzai."

"...Okay."

When Chatot comes back, Pearl does a full interrogation that leaves the pokemon sweating. However, all that he managed to pick up were 'missy' and 'protect'. None of them made sense to either of them, but Dia starts wondering if the lady comes from an elite family since she was referred to as 'missy'.

"This doesn't help much I guess," Pearl says with a sigh.

'Too bad,' they both think as they fall asleep on their beds.

The lady-or Missy, they decided to call her-challenges gyms. They don't know how, but they have this urge to help train her. And they don't know why, but a sense of pride and relief wash over them when she manages to get it. 'We're not even the ones gaining anything,' Dia thinks. He glances over the lady, who's battle-practicing with Pearl, and smiles. 'Maybe I am.'

She's still as cold as ever, but they know she's warming up to them.

"It's impossible that she wouldn't," Pearls says. "I'm awesome and you're adorable. It's like she got BOTH Barneys."

"What?"

"Never mind."

She even mistakenly enters a contest and her determination leaves Dia awestruck. She even swore to the Berlitz name (so her name was Berlitz), and she made it sound like a big deal.

"It's not," Pearl comments.

"You wouldn't understand," she replies.

All three of them make an effort, and Dia tries to put himself out there for her. He uses his ultimate skill-baking-and tries his best to stand out, make a good impression. The night before the performance, she sees her staying up, watching his mom's old contest videos.

He didn't mention it, because he didn't know anything about these things. He had half a mind to tell her to go to sleep, but he doesn't. Instead, he turns around and closes the door behind him.

Pearl accompanies the lady to the registration, and he feels the stares, like daggers digging into his back. He glances at Missy, like he's worried she'll be cowering under the harsh looks, but it's quite the opposite. Her head was still up high, her back straight and her posture elegant as always.

'She doesn't care,' he realizes. 'She doesn't because she's certain she'll prove them wrong. Confident, strong-minded yet soft and lady-like...'

'_A lady...that's what she is_.'

Dia makes his super special poffin and starts preparing a dessert just for her. He gives the poffin to her right before the performance and starts to cook some more, regretting that he's not watching her onstage. 'I'm doing this for her; this is better than watching her perform.'

When he comes back, he puts on his best smile, but he sees her sulking on the staircase. He immediately knows something went wrong, but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he gives the custard pie to her. She refuses at first, but he gives it again. Like she has no choice, she starts eating.

He looks down and starts spilling out how he felt during his performances, how nervous he always is, how much pressure he feels when he knows people are watching his every move, but most importantly, how he does it for fun's sake.

'I do it for fun, and only that. When I go up there, I no longer think of it as a performance; I think of it as something I do when I'm happy, to make me happy, and to make others happy.'

She finishes the custard pie and gives him the plate. She thanks him, jumps up like she drank twenty cups of coffee and says she'll continue with the performance.

A warm feeling overwhelms Dia. He feels like in exchange for his motivation, she gave him warmth and joy.

He goes back to the kitchen and smiles all the way there.

When he returns, he sees Platina win and watches as the judge presents the ribbon and her prize. She tells him to wait as she goes down the stage, receiving weird looks. She stops right in front of Dia and Pearl, sweat dripping, little puffs of smoke coming out of her mouth.

She grabs both of their wrists and turn to the judges. "If you reward me, then you have to reward these two too!"

When she says that, Dia and Pearl glance at each other. Both of their looks say the same thing 'She's finally opened up.'

Things go bad when they meet Cyrus. They went to Miss Cynthia's house and decided to explore the ruins. Platina studies them, fascinated and was practically understanding what it says. Suddenly, the man comes in and starts taking pictures, even though Dia knows he's not supposed to.

Cynthia attacks, but he's just as strong. These strike Diamond and Pearl. 'We can't protect her from him.'

They are trapped inside the ruins and Pearl orders everyone to escape. No second thoughts from them...except from Diamond. 'But we have to stop Cyrus! Who knows where he'll use that information!' He sees Cynthia, desperate to protect this historical place. They were there, they can help, but Pearl wants to escape.

'No,' he thinks. So when Pearl tells them all to leave, he moves towards the opposite direction, leaving him and Cyrus alone.

"You can't take that," he says nervously. "These are supposed to stay here, so you can't take pictures. Please stop." He wants to stand up to him, but it doesn't mean he's not afraid.

He ignores him and continues his task. When he finishes, he proceeds to leave, but Dia acts.

"NO!" he cried and the forcefulness of his tone surprised him. He sends out all his pokemon and does his best to take the camera. He succeeds and runs blindly out of the ruins. The man attacks both Munchlax-who held the camera under his fur-and Dia, which knocks the breath out of him.

His friends shout something at him, but they were too far away to do any attack to the man. After a while of rigorous battling, Pearl couldn't watch it anymore. He runs towards the man, avoiding his attacks and ignores the ground breaking beneath him.

Dia is relieved when he arrives; actually, he has never been so relieved and scared in his life.

However, the man manages to take the camera and starts to leave the place with leaving a final blow. Pearl turns to Dia and tells him to leave. "It's not worth it," he says.

Dia stays quiet. He doesn't think. He doesn't think about the potential harm he'll inflict to himself if he didn't move, or the fact that it could be easily avoided if he just ignored the camera, let the man get away and pulled himself to safety.

No, no more running. Pearl dives out of the way just as the man attacks and Dia directs his blow to the camera just at the same time. The man's attack hits him full force and leaves him breathless and semi-conscious.

Everyone screams-Cynthia out of shock, Missy out of pity, Pearl out of fear, and the man out of anger. He flies away as Cynthia tries to catch up with him. Missy and Pearl head towards Dia, who smiles weakly at them and says, "Crazy, huh? But at least we were able to stop him."

Missy is in the verge of tears while Pearl's eyes were getting wet. Suddenly, he shouts at him.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, DIA? TWICE-I TOLD YOU TWICE TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY! YOU DIDN'T LISTEN, AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED? YOU WOULD'T HAVE GOTTEN HURT IF YOU JUST DID WHAT I SAID!"

Pearl snapped and Dia's pretty sure something snapped inside him as well. He pushes Pearl's hand away and despite the pain and ache, he sits up, faces him and says, "You're not the boss of me."

Those six words hit Pearl like a rock. He stutters, his anger subsiding, and says that he never said he was boss of him.

Dia then lets it all out, how Pearl's words hurt him a lot, how he hated being treated like a kid, like he was the dumb one, how much pain he feels from keeping all his emotions bottled up and especially how much regret he feels for not saying anything at all.

Pearl looks at him like has grown six heads. He never knew Dia was like this. He assumed he was the happy-go-lucky guy, his best friend that always treated him right. Then, he realizes that Dia was keeping all his emotions in check, because he doesn't want their friendship ruined. He carried all this burden just so nothing would change.

Dia avoids his eyes as he stands up and dusts himself off. He continues forward, even though his legs can't seem to support him that well.

"Let's go."

And they do. They use Fantina's driftblim, Dia and Pearl riding on top while Missy rides at the bottom.

Pearl scratches his head and whispers, "Sorry, Dia."

Dia couldn't sort out his emotions, his guilt, his anger, his regret. He doesn't want their friendship to change-even though he hates the wise man-dumb man bit-but he doesn't want things to be the same either.

He smiles and says, "It's all right."

Missy looks up, the corners of her mouth tugging up. 'Everything's fine now.'

Dia and Pearl find out who the lady is when they meet the two weird men in black suits. They look so ridiculous, Dia and Pearl couldn't take them too seriously. But they were being surrounded by the enemy, and seeing how they battled, the two boys finalize that they're not the kind of men to mess around with.

The two men spot them and one of them exclaims, "You're the two who kidnapped Little Miss!"

Pearl is left confused while Dia's heart rate goes faster. "We don't know what you're talking about. She's our tour guide!" Pearl cries.

"Tour guide?! She's Platinum Berlitz, a member of the most elite family in Sinnoh! We are the bodyguards commissioned to protect her!"

Pearl's mind goes haywire as Dia's eyes widen. He knew she wasn't his tour guide, but he wouldn't have imagined that she was a member of the wealthiest family of Sinnoh, let alone the job he and Pearl was doing was protecting her from threats.

A sinking feeling is felt in his stomach. 'I knew. I knew and I didn't tell because I never knew the danger would be this high.'

They stop thinking about it as they wipe out all the Galactic grunts. They set aside the conflict and actually bonded, the two bodyguards guiding Dia and Pearl as they do all they can.

Suddenly, a flash of white...and the two men become transparent...disappearing...

The boys panic and the two men wave them off, saying they can't do anything. However, they did have a last request.

"We know you have the same dedication as we have," they say. "Protect her at all costs. Protect her like how we would."

"Protect her...protect her...protect her..." they constantly say until they completely disappear. There's a clattering sound as their black shades fall onto the ground.

Dia looks at Pearl, who's shaking so bad his teeth were moving. He leans to Dia for support and apologizes for not being able to stand up properly. He says that he can't believe the lady should have been protected by professional body guards. He couldn't believe that kids like them, thinking that this was all a joke, thinking that this could have been taken lightly, were doing a job as serious as that.

"I know," Dia blurts out without thinking.

Pearl stops and turns to Dia. He cries out 'You knew?' and Dia nods, looking down at the ground the whole time, tears threatening to leave his face.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?"

Dia's practically shaking now as tears drop, his emotions overwhelming him again. He looks up and Pearl's startled to seeing his crying face. "Be-because-it'll be the-the end of our ad-adventure," he says through his sobs.

Pearl doesn't say anything, but then he grabs his friend by the shoulders, looking straight into his watery eyes. "Diamond. After all that has happened, we can't lose ourselves now. We _have_ to protect Little Miss. No matter what."

He lets Dia cry for a while, until he finally wipes his nose and dries his face. He looks at Pearl with determination on his face.

"No matter what."

They go back to Missy-Platina, they now know-who is trying out the gym equipment. She turns to them and grins, saying that it's a thrill to try out new things.

They drop to their knees, which catch her by surprise. They then say with a hard glint in their eyes that as their bodyguards, they'll do their best to protect her and help her reach Mount Coronet.

The smile on her face tells them that she doesn't have a clue on what's going on, and immediate guilt settles at the bottom of their stomach.

They sigh. 'If only she knew.'

The news that Platina's father was kidnapped reached their ears, and Missy doesn't hesitate to go back home. The boys have never seen her so hard, so mad, so determined.

When they reach the place, they are greeted by a powerful trainer. However, Platina, driven by anger to get her father back, injured his party quite greatly. During their battle, she hears some muffled sounds and leaves the battle without a second thought. There, she sees her father and Professor Rowan. Tears spring from her eyes and she whisers, "Father."

The man arrives and immediately freezes. 'Father? Crap!' he thinks.

He steps closer, trying to explain, but was cut off. The girl asks him why he kidnapped her father. He states that a team of grunts put them inside and he just kept them safe, trying to figure out how to open the box and set them free. She doesn't believe him; he can see it in her eyes.

Then, he spots the scarf, and on it were pinned gym badges. 'She's a challenger!' He hurriedly gets his badge and shows it to her, saying that he's Roark's father and he can be trusted.

Platina still acts wary, but at least thought of him as _not_ a threat.

She turns to her father, trying to hear what he's saying. At that point, she can feel Dia and Pearl catch up to her, feeling uneasy. 'What's wrong?' she wanted to ask, but she was too concentrated on her father.

She asks him if it's all right and he says yes. Although, he said that they were caught because the grunts claimed Platina was in their hands. This left some confusion. She explains that she couldn't have been kidnapped since the bodyguards she hired were always with her.

"Where?" he asks and everything crumbles down.

She points to Dia and Pearl, who are not meeting her gaze. Before Mister Berlitz could utter a sound, they tell them everything, how they're not her bodyguards, what really happened to the real ones and how they're sorry they didn't tell her immediately.

"We took our duty to heart!" they cry out. "We promised to take Little Miss to Mount Coronet."

However, Platina wouldn't hear it. "You lied to me. After all that has happened, you lied to me." 'I don't care if you weren't my bodyguards, but after all the things I've read about friends, I thought they wouldn't keep anything from me'. Without thinking, she runs back to her mansion.

She lies immediately on her bed and shoo's Sebastian off. She wanted to be alone, to think.

'They lied to me,' she constantly thinks. 'I thought friends weren't supposed to keep secrets.'

Then she realizes that all that she's basing this on is on books. BOOKS. Not experience, not real friends. She slumps down, confused. She couldn't think straight anymore, and she doesn't like her mind being jumbled up. Her eyes flutter and close.

'_You're asleep_,' a voice mutters. '_You have been through a lot...but it's not over yet. Our plan WILL succeed. You may have stopped us in the past, but we know YOU can't even handle what's coming next. We will succeed in our plan to make a new...a better universe.'_

A laugh.

'_You better start protecting the three lakes and the guardians...'_

_'Not that you can stop us.'_

Platina jerks up and looks out at the night sky. She isn't sure if it was a dream or not, but she was sure with one thing: They had to take action. She sits up and starts writing...she needs to know what to say the next day.

She fixes everything as she goes out of her house and to the front lawn, where she spots Dia and Pearl giving back the pokedexes and prepares to leave. Adrenaline rushes through her as she calls their attention.

"Platina! Go back to the mansion. These gentlemen are just leaving," her father says, but she interrupts.

"They are not," she snapped and the tone surprises everyone. "I understand how you feel, father. I understand how everyone feels, and I know you're doing what you think is the best course of action. But you have failed to confront the person who is most affected here...and that is me."

She unfolds her letter and starts reading. She says that she never expected to get stuck in this situation, she never knew that things would mess up like this...However, she doesn't regret anything. If anything, she was thankful that everything happened. Despite what happened were 'things that weren't supposed to happen', she wouldn't change anything.

She states her desire to continue her journey and their duty to protect the lake guardians. She turns to her friends and says how much fun she has had and how she wanted to move forward with the two of them by her side. Their faces light up and Platina fights the urge to smile as well.

"To my two knights, Platina Berlitz."

Her father protests, but Gym Leader Bryon sides with Platina and gives her his badge. The three turnto each other, then they knew what to do. They had to split up and protect their own lake guardian. They nod, say their goodbyes and leave without another word...

...Because they know they'll be seeing each other again.

Dia is held back as Bryon insists on Dia training. He meets up with Riley, who is an 'aura-reader or aura-feeler'...something like that.

At night, he opens his battle notebook and starts writing. He practices by himself, although he can feel Riley's stare digging into his back. There, he masters his 'One-leaf razor leaf' that would've left Pearl proud.

He boards the ship back to his lake, feeling stronger and wiser. He eats all their food and is nearly thrown out, but he doesn't care. He goes to his bunk and sighs a sad sigh. The room feels so quiet.

Pearl goes straight to the lake, and immediately encounters a Galactic grunt. He is easily defeated and he lands on Crasher Wake's Gym. Disappointed about what happened, he asks for training, and the gym leader agrees.

He makes a team of six, having a hard time with catching one of them. He trains and trains until he feels more confident. He goes back to the lake, more determined than ever.

He camps out, talking to his pokemon and to himself mostly. He heaves a heavy sigh as he thinks that the space around him is too empty.

Platina doesn't stop challenging gyms, but it was harder since the boys weren't there to help train and motivate her. That didn't let her down, though. She wins the battles and gains help from two gym leaders and they head to the lake she has to protect. She then remembers what Dia told her...about his vision that he saw a lake guardian.

'_I've never told anyone...because maybe...I just wasn't thinking straight_.'

'_Then why tell me?_'

'_...I don't know_.'

Thoughts about Diamond and Pearl left a weird feeling in her stomach. A feeling of emptiness.

_From now on, I'm alone._

Dia heads to the lake, which was strangely empty. He held the note from his mom tight to his chest. '_I just went berry picking by the lake. I'll come back in a while. I love you_.'

"Looking for someone?" asks a sugar-sweet voice that makes Dia shiver. He turns around and comes across a Galactic grunt, holding his mother hostage. Something builds inside him as he asks her to let his mother go. She laughs a shrill laugh and pokes him on the nose.

"Silly boy," she giggles as he hears helicopters and aircrafts arriving.

"You're too late anyway." She battles him but leaves just as quick as she prepares for the possible bombing. Dia attends to his mother for a while before chasing after the girl, his mother shouting for him all the way.

He reaches her, but it's too late. They're already counting down. When the timer goes off, nothing happens. The Galactic grunt lets out a little strangled cry of disappointment. Dia's heartbeat becomes faster as he blindly attacks the net that caught the lake guardian.

He latches onto the net with Lickitung. He orders Torterra to let out the 'One-leaf razor leaf', but misses, cutting off the net Lickitung was holding to. 'This is dangerous; I have to let go,' he thinks, but he gazes at the frightened guardian. He holds the net tighter as he enters the shuttle.

Platina, with the help of the gym leaders, face the Galactic grunt-Jupiter-who is a really strong opponent. They get defeated easily, but she doesn't go down without a fight. They were defeated by a single move, and she figures out why. However, they couldn't do anything, for their bodies ached and all of their pokemon have fallen. They could only watch as the timed counted down.

No explosion, which makes Platina nervous. 'Who received it then?'

The guardian escapes and is captured. Platina shoots up and does her best to delay them, but wasn't able to make that happen. Jupiter sends out a final blow that leaves all three of them unconscious.

They wake up, tired and defeated, but Platina doesn't give up. She rests, then she's back on her feet.

"Where are you going?" they ask her.

"I'm going to follow them."

Pearl meets Saturn, a grunt that uses a lot of technology, which leaves Pearl scratching his head. He doesn't know how to defeat an enemy which has mechanical arms, let alone fight a team of strong pokemon.

He distracts the grunt momentarily as he sees the ships and shuttles fly over the lake. He darts inside the cave where the guardian supposedly is as he prepares for impact. The timer goes off and the explosion left a ringing in Pearl's ears. He's quickly blinded and delusional.

When he opens his eyes and sees the guardian emerging, he faces the grunt, who just entered the cave. They battle, while the guardian tries to escape, but wasn't able to.

Pearl runs after them and only then did he see the damage the bomb has done. The lake is completely dry, most pokemon injured and some of them...you know...

This angered Pearl as he let out all his fury, resulting to him getting physically injured and knocked unconscious. He wakes up at Crasher Wake's gym again, and after a few days of nursing himself back to health, he stands on his feet.

"You can't go yet. You're not stable," the gym leader reprimands, but he ignores it.

"There's no time for waiting."

They enter the airship, Dia in disguise while Platina and Pearl are hiding in the shadows. They meet up in the room where the guardians are held, joyful when they heard the pokedexes beeping again. However, a grunt's pokemon attacks them, and they have no choice but to give them the pokedexes.

They release the guardian, but they were too late. They settled to the ruins and the battle begun.

Everything's a blur, since time went back and forth and space went in and out. All they remember was that all the gym leaders were severely injured, Dia almost went inside the 'other' world and he gave Cyrus a lecture, resulting to a big slap on the face.

'_Time and space may be different for me. The time I felt was the time I spent with my friends, my family, people I barely know but I trust already. And our journey, the places we've been, the wonders we've seen, that's the space I felt.'_

SLAP.

That's what happened.

He tastes blood in his mouth and the stinging pain is still there, but his friends comfort him. After a lot of battling and returning Dialga and Palkia into the 'other' world, Platina spots another pokemon there.

She knew everything was far from over.

A year later, she challenges the Battle Frontier by herself. '_Sorry, Missy, but there are some things we have to deal with_." She knows they're referring to the bodyguards and how they're stuck in the 'other' side. She's gathering information herself by asking the Frontier brains.

They talk about Giratina and how he dwells in that place. And she was pretty sure it was that pokemon that grabbed Dialga and Palkia. She asks if people can survive in the other world.

Probably. But of course, no one has ever tried.

This makes Platina think.

After defeating several Brains, with the help of Looker, meeting up with Pearl's dad and such, the matter arose again. Girating is said to have escaped the other side and the Galactic grunts are on the move again.

She heads to all the ruckus with the help of everyone she meets.

Dia and Pearl visit the gym leaders, like they always do. Even after a year, they are still in bad conditions. He talks with Daisy, a researcher and an older sister of a dexholder in Kanto, which makes Dia and Pearl excited.

"All of the dexholders encounter crises like this," she explains, "and they always solve the problem after." She sends them a smile. "I'm sure you three won't be any different."

They hear about Team Galactic again and a sour taste is in their mouths. Immediately, they head to them, hoping to find an answer to the question: Where did you take the two bodyguards?

They've spend months searching for clues and theories. They owed it to them. The men protected them and were faithful to Platina to the very end. It felt wrong to just leave them who knows where.

However, they have a hunch that it has something to do with the 'other world'.

They arrive and meet a Galactic scientist. With rings under his eyes and creepy smile, this both unnerved and freaked out the two. He exclaims that he'll capture all the legendary pokemon and starts attacking the two.

They dodge and duck and fight back until finally, Pearl sends out chatot and goes into the air for a better shot. Dia sees the scientist prepare for an attack. Without thinking, he activates his running shoes and pushes Pearl out of the way. The attack pierces through his middle and he can feel the coldness spreading.

He doesn't feel pain, actually, he doesn't feel at all. The moment the attack hits him, he blacks out. Pearl's eyes widens and he prays that his friend was just unconscious or stunned, but the blankness of his eyes tell him otherwise. He rushes to his side and put his ear on his chest.

Empty.

Hot tears spring from his eyes and the scientist just laughs.

"I got him out of the way," he shrieks with joy. "What should I do with you then? Kill you? Torture you? No, you're too distracted. I'll catch the legendaries first and let THEM kill you."

Pearl has never felt so much anger and despair in his life. He snaps towards him and cries, "I'll kill you!"

However, he wasn't prepared for the attack that stuns him. The scientist escapes. Pearl glances at Dia, his lifeless body still not showing signs of movement. He sends out all of Dia's pokemon, crying and wailing. However, when they see Pearl, they know what to do. They set Dia on a safe spot to retrieve later and follow the grunt.

They don't know what happened next, but when he comes back, Dia's lighting up and then he disappears.

Dia gains consciousness when he goes to the other world. He sees Cyrus and starts conversing with him, trying to act as normal as possible. He seems more confident, less afraid, and he kind of thanks Cyrus for not wanting to kill him because he wouldn't have done well under pressure.

Cyrus then lets himself out. "I know people don't understand me. No one does, so I feel like I'm in this empty shell no one else can read."

'I know,' Dia thinks, but he doesn't say it. He tells Cyrus that it's not too late; he still has a chance.

He pauses then agrees and they find a way out of the dimension.

The battle begins, the ultimate battle against Giratina. Dia mounts Dialga while Pearl mounts Palkia. All three of them attack, until they were able to lock away Giratina and the other legendaries went back to their habitats.

Pearl and Platina are surprised to see Cyrus and the three Galactic grunts standing perfectly still. They confront each other and Cyrus says one thing that ends everything: "Galactic is disbanded. Do as you wish."

Everything's silent as Cyrus walks away. Suddenly, Jupiter jumps up and shouts, "You can't leave us like this! Take us with you! We don't know a life without Team Galactic."

Cyrus is silent as well as the other two. He nods as all four of them leave. He thanks the trio as they disappear into the sky.

Looker leaves as Platina defeats all of the Frontier Brains. After all that has happened, they end with a manzai. Things were looking up, but after all that has happened, Dia feels his emotions are different...

...for the worse.

Things are normal after that. During the first few months, the three of them stay at home, rest and take in what has happened. Platina stays in her mansion, Dia with his mom and Pearl with his dad. They still keep in touch and after a while, they start going to places together.

All on Platina, of course.

Dia and Pearl also continue in their quest of becoming first-class comedians, like they always do. The only difference is there's an extra pair of clapping hands for them.

The more time they spend together, the more feelings are developed.

Pearl isn't blind; he can clearly see Dia's puppy crush for their friend, and he can admit he likes her too. But whenever he sees Dia, always putting her first, doing what he can to make her happy, to bring her up, he can see that he likes her more than he does.

So he gets out of the way.

However, he knows Platina feels nothing for them...just friendship. He can see Dia isn't let down on this-or he doesn't show what he truly feels, he can't be sure anymore-but he can't stop trying to help him.

Well, he's not a miracle worker.

So when the news reaches their ears that Platina was to be married off to a rich man of a wealthy family, the news strike Dia hard. He isolates himself from her and even Pearl. So Pearl does what he has to do.

He confronts Platina.

Not in the sense that he's shouting at her face, but he talks to her. "Do you like him?" He's not even sure whether he's referring to the man she's marrying or his friend.

"He's fine," Platina answers, referring to the first person he thought. "He's nice and courteous and I know he cares a lot about me."

"Are you happy?"

She hesitates, then says, "Yes."

He then realizes he can't do anything and all he can do was to help Dia get through it, even though Dia has barricaded himself. He constantly knocks on the door, telling him to open up so that they can talk, but he wouldn't hear any of it. So Pearl just screamed through the door that he should just let it go, let it pass, move on and find another girl.

His voice becomes hoarse and his throat feels like it's burning after all the shouting. He turns and walks out and the moment Dia sees him go, he knew he added a mistake to his list of things he regrets.

They don't meet after that...none of them do. Platina's wedding comes up and Pearl attends with a lady by his side...but no Diamond. She constantly searches but he tells her to no longer do. "He's not coming...ever."

Sadness overwhelms and the tone of Pearl's voice makes her think that it's her fault. Her expression is clear, questioning and full of guilt. So when she opens her mouth, Pearl interrupts her. "He liked you. But it's not your fault that he's like this. Just remember that."

Platina couldn't think straight, but she couldn't leave her now-husband. She doesn't feel like that with Dia...he's a friend...a very good and sweet one...but she never felt or even knew that he liked her.

She pokes her food sadly. 'It's my fault, no matter what Pearl says.'

Suddenly, her maid calls her and says that her pokegear has been ringing several times. She tells her to get it and she reads the received messages and calls. There were several missed calls, but only one message, like the sender only had one thing to say, but tried to get her attention by letting the phone ring.

It is from Dia and she nearly drops the pokegear. She reads the message.

**U look beautiful 2nite.**

She jumps from her chair, which startles her husband. She says it's all right as she urgently scans the audience. She knows he's there; she knows he saw her. Then, she catches a glimpse of Pearl, who also had his pokegear out and was looking like he had drunk a plenty amount of coffee.

She knows that Dia sent him a message too.

However, he is not in sight and she reluctantly takes her seat again. She writes:

**Where are you?**

Her thumb hovers above the send button, then she erases it.

**Thank you.**

She presses send.

No reply was given.

Dia hides from the shadows as he catches a glimpse of his two friends. He was in his tux, ready for the party, but he couldn't seem to attend for real. Everytime he sees her...

...no...he just couldn't.

So he left as fast as he came. He goes to his house and locks himself inside. He texted his friends...just one line.

**U look beautiful 2nite.**

**Best buds 4ever, ryt?**

Platina replied with a 'Thank you' while Pearl asked 'Wru?'

He doesn't say anything back as he cooks his dinner...dinner for one...His mother was gone for the week so he had the house all to himself. He sets the phone down as it constantly rings, most likely from Pearl.

Satisfied with the meal he has prepared himself, he sets it down and sits down. Before he takes his first bite, he remembers everything that he's done, all that has happened.

Everything led to this.

_Why didn't I tell Pearl how I felt?_

_Why didn't I just say what I wanted to do?_

_Why didn't I take charge of my life?_

_Why didn't I let out everything that I balled up inside?_

_Why didn't I tell her?_

A tear streams down his face as he takes his first and last bite. He walks back to his bed without bothering to keep or fix his still filled plate. He lies down and feels the food taking affect already. Despite of all the 'Why didn't I's', he was glad that everything happened.

He didn't want things to be this way, but he didn't want things to stay the same either.

**-END-**


End file.
